1. Remember the good ol' days of the Dolphins on "Hard Knocks?" Of Michael Egnew being called out in a meeting by offensive coordinator Mike Sherman? Of Chad Johnson's arrest and being cut? Of Vontae Davis wanting to call grandma after being traded?

Defensive line coach Bryan Cox huddled his linemen on the bench together with tactical strategy after that drive. "I'll try not to cuss you out,'' he said. "They are running sideways. We don't want to run sideways with them. Run vertical. They will stop and come back and block you. But if you run sideways you're giving them what they want."

After Atlanta answered with a touchdown drive of it's own, quarterback Matt Ryan said on the sidelines, "Whew, that was a lot of plays." He was told it was 18. "Was it that many?"

Later, smoking a cigar with Cox, linebackers coach Mark Collins said, "I thought we had a little more edge than they had.”

2. In his first day as a Dolphin,Brady Quinn naturally was asked about the 2007 draft and said he thought he was going to be picked by the Dolphins. He then said he heard the next day he might be traded to the Dolphins - "but we heard a lot of things then,'' he said.

Here's what actually happenedas General Manager Randy Mueller told me the day after the draft; A few nights before the draft, Mueller and coach Cam Cameron took owner H. Wayne Huizenga out to dinner and laid out their plan. They planned to take Ted Ginn Jr. with the ninth overall pick and John Beck in the second round. They knew how this would go over.

They purposely kept it so secret from everyone so word wouldn't leak out, too. When Quinn sat there for the Dolphins to pick, a buzz went through the Dolphins draft room of 15 officials, scouts and coaches. "This is coming off just like we want!" one person siad.

Mueller thought to himself, "You have no idea how it is."

When the Dolphins picked Ginn, Cameron was famously booed (leading Cameron's iconic quotes about drafting, "Ted Ginn's family," and "We've got to turn those thumbs this way."). ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. called the Dolphins, "in a word, ridiculous." Mueller alternated between text-messaging the next target in quarterback John Beck, trying furiously to trade up to get Beck and receiving a text message from his teenage daughter.

"Dad, I love Ginn," it read. "But you're going to need a bulletproof vest to get home."

I always thought Mueller was a victim of Cameron's awful coaching more than his awful players. From what was a talent-light '07 draft, Ginn, Samson Satele, Paul Soliai and Brandon Fields are still playing. Not bad. He had some glaring mistakes - trading Wes Welker for a second-round pick that became Satele, for instance.

He had the right idea with Ginn as far as the game's changed rules for defensive backs leading to wide receivers becoming more important. Ginn just wasn't the complete player they hoped. Still, he's had a specialist's role in the league as a return man and one-trick speed receiver.

Brady Quinn, though, can rest easy now. The Dolphins had no plans to draft him or trade for him the day after the draft.

3. Brad Penny - "I'm coming home." And he's not promising how many games he'll win with the Marlins - not two, not three, not four, not five ... as I wrote in my column today.

4. Good for the NBA for marketing the release of its schedule as an event (6 p.m. Wednesday). But seriously now. Aside from opening night and when the Heat play Cleveland for the first time (Christmas Day in Miami, as has been reported), does any game really matter?